Flippers move into Boyle Heights

After painting countless Highland Park homes in shades of olive and gray and surrounding them with horizontal wood fencing, many house flippers are looking for new Eastside territory. The exterior of the newly listed Boyle Heights house (pictured) 3521 East Sixth Street south of the 60 Freeway is painted a shade of tan, which is not exactly a flipper favorite. However, there are numerous signs of flipper design: the front yard is planted with fountain grass and the interior includes chocolate-colored flooring and cabinets, recessed ceiling lights, granite counter tops, stainless steel sinks and silvery faucets. There are no visible signs that this three-bedroom house was built in 1921 but the flippers did retain some of fruit trees on the property, according to the listing information on Redfin. The home sold for $144,000 in January in a foreclosure sale, according to information provided via Redfin. Last week, the property went back on the market at an asking price of $269,000.

Yes, I’d rather prices stay low — so more people can afford to buy. Unfortunately, they are not the least bit low — not even now. We certainly don’t need house flippers making them even higher, cashing in and leaving. They are bad for society.

Alexis is right, the flipper buy the house and fix it to a moving condition which most buyers are looking for. I agree that sometimes it is done on the cheap side and that they are removing some original charm. If the flip is overpriced, it just won’t sell.

As in a things — there’s truth to what everyone is saying. In reality, investors like this do contribute and cause problems, but they offer a solution too — one that otherwise wouldn’t exist. As a realtor, I can tell you that most of these homes that are flipped are in horrible condition. Buyers (even with 30% down) cannot get financing to buy them. Banks won’t loan on a house in serious disrepair. Also, many buyers can afford a higher loan amout, say $250k instead of $175k, because that just equates to an extra $400/month and less stress instead of trying to find $25k in cash to make necessary repairs (and the time investment it takes to do the work). It’s almost impossible for the “normal” buyer to have access to the sheer cash it takes to rehab a lot of these properties. So without investors, sadly, many people couldn’t afford to buy many of these types of homes. Many homes would sit vacant and essentially decompose, which does negatively effect the safety of a neighborhood, the looks,and the values for other local sellers who have nbeen working hard to keep their mortgages current etc…sometimes investors even save homes from being torn down (and we all know what happens then — some richer investor cones in and 9 more go up in it’s place. Bet that would piss you off even more!) Jk. But I get it. Really. They do a lot of damage too.

There should be a significant penalty for people who purchase a house and don’t live in it for at least 3-5 years. That would allow a certain amount of flipping without completely inflating and skewing the market.

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